Boys thank saviours- and dream of sushi and KFC

Guy Reyes

A hospital statement said that as the boys continue to recover, they remain susceptible to infectious disease.

Doctors say they are in good health following a successful three-day operation which ended July 10 when teams of Thai Navy SEALs and global cave diving experts hauled the last five members of the team to safety.

Most of the boys, who were shown in their hospital beds, looked relaxed, and began their brief statements with a "wai", the traditional Thai greeting of hands raised to chest level with palms together. The young "Wild Boars" and their 25-year-old football coach Ekkapol Chantawong wandered into the cave on 23 June.

Specialists who took part in the risky mission to bring the Wild Boars home have expressed shock and surprise that they were able to pull it off, with some fearing that there could have been more casualties.

Saman, 38, had retired from Thailand's navy SEALs and was working as an airport security officer when he volunteered for the rescue operation.

'The boys all promised to be a good person and lead a good life to honour him'. Saman was granted a posthumous promotion to lieutenant commander by King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun and given the royal decoration of Knight Grand Cross (first class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant, the SEALs said Saturday on their Facebook page.

In this photo released by Thailand's Ministry of Health and the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital, some of the rescued soccer team members bowing their heads respectfully in front of a sketch of the Thai Navy SEAL diver who died while trying to rescue them, Sunday, July 15, 2018, in a hospital in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand.

FIFA, world soccer's governing body, invited the boys and their coach to attend the final, but the kids couldn't make it for medical reasons.

Officials at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital told reporters at Saturday's press conference that all 13 are tentatively scheduled to be discharged Thursday.

The search and rescue teams sedated and transported them in stretchers underwater while navigating the flooded sections towards the exit.

A team from around the world staged a spectacular rescue earlier this week.

Two British divers found them on July 2, squatting on a mound in a flooded chamber several kilometers inside the complex.

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